Now we can see.

I subscribe to the Jay Reatard school of rock, in which if you have a slow song on a record, you speed it up live. And if you have a fast song, you speed it up live. The Thermals aren't down. Hutch Harris, Kathy Foster, and the drummer/hype man (dude stood up and gestured to the audience every time they played a particularly rockin' song) put on a good show though--mostly killer, some filler. They started out very strong with Returning to the Fold, the second best cut on BBM. I own the entire Thermals catalog, and I was still a little bored once or twice.

They played both Saints and Sappy, which fit their style well--I may have been the only person singing along to the lyrics (something about a laundry room).

Here's your future.

The Thermals play tonight at the Black Cat DC. Surprised this one's not sold out yet. $13, doors at 8, Thermals onstage at 10:30. I'm sure they'll play some material off their righteously catchy 2006 record, the Body, the Blood, the Machine, as well as new stuff from Now We Can See, which apparently is about death. But they're so upbeat.

Apparently, they've been doing a couple of covers live (not always)--a Breeders tune and Nirvana's Sappy, otherwise known as Verse Chorus Verse and originally released on every Columbia House subscriber's favorite alternative comp, No Alternative, a record I both think is awesome and am kind of embarrassed for (much like the entire 1990s).

The Breeders -- Saints